Quantification of stable minor species in confined flames by cavity ring-down spectroscopy: application to NO

Cavity ring-down spectroscopy (CRDS) is used to measure the NO mole fraction formed in the burnt gases of low-pressure premixed flames. It is shown that the line-of-sight absorption is greatly increased by the contribution of the NO molecules surrounding the burner. This contribution has been quantified by developing a mathematical procedure taking into account the spatial and spectral features of the CRDS measurement. Calculations have been undertaken in the general case of a stable species not consumed in the flame. The most sensitive parameter is the temperature both in the flame and outside the flame. Simulations allow the selection of the best spectroscopic transitions for a given flame (i.e. a given temperature profile), ensuring the weakest influence of the inaccuracy affecting the temperature determination. High quantum states belonging to the A–X (0–1) band of NO have been found to be the most valuable and have led to a NO mole fraction determination with an accuracy of ±13%. NO absorption in the flame was completely masked using the A–X (0–0) band. Finally, the prompt-NO mole fraction formed in a methane/air flame stabilized at 33 Torr is obtained by combining CRDS and laser induced fluorescence techniques. Received: 12 October / Revised version: 1 February 2002 / Published online: 14 March 2002     

151Eu Mössbauer studies on Eu1+x Ba2−x Cu3O7+δ oxide systems

Mössbauer parameters of¹⁵¹Eu in Eu_1+x Ba_2?x Cu₃O_7+δ have been studied as a function of temperature, forx=0.15 andx=0.25. The areas of the absorption spectra for the two samples are almost equal. This could mean that thef-Mössbauer factor for¹⁵¹Eu at the barium sites is much smaller than that for¹⁵¹Eu at the rare earth sites, i.e. we only observe the spectra of the latter sites. According to this, the fits of the spectra with a single quadrupolar pattern and with two quadrupolar patterns have given equivalent χ² values.     

Unique solvability of the periodic Cauchy problem for wave-hierarchy problems with dissipation

Wave-hierarchy problems appear in a variety of applications such as traffic flows, roll waves down an open inclined channel and multiphase flows. Usually, these are described by the compressible Navier-Stokes equations with specific non-linearities; in a fluidized bed model they contain an additional pressure gradient term and are supplemented by an elliptic equation for this unknown pressure. These equations admit solutions periodic in space as well as in time, i.e. periodic travelling waves. Therefore, the corresponding initial value problem with periodic boundary conditions is solved locally in time in appropriate Sobolev spaces. Some remarks are made concerning global solutions, the occurrence of clusters or voids and the bifurcation of time periodic solutions, respectively.     

Mobile phase versus stationary phase approaches to the direct injection of biological fluids in liquid chromatography

The liquid chromatographic analysis of drugs in urine through direct injection without any sample pretreatment was extended to micellar chromatography with nonionic surfactants, the Pinkerton ISRP column and the shielded hydrophobic phase (Hisep) column. The feasibility of using each was demonstrated through the determination of the diuretic, hydrochlorothiazide, in urine. Good separation, recovery, precision and linearity, and adequate limits of detection were obtained for this analysis with all three techniques. The advantages and limitations of the mobile phase approach of micellar chromatography and the two stationary phase approaches are discussed for the direct injection of urine as well as other biological fluids.     

Transport properties of a side-chain liquid-crystalline polymer. Poly(4-acryloyloxy biphenyl)

The transport properties of a side-chain liquid-crystalline polymer forming a smectic A phase have been investigated using dichloromethane as a permeant. Samples differing in the isotropization enthaoly were analyzed. A. Correlation between this thermal parameter and sorption has been found, while the diffusion coefficient is substantially the same in all samples. The results obtained can be explained in terms of a biphasis model in which a disordered permeable phase is present within the liquid-crystalline phase, which is impermeable to the diffusant molecules.     

Production of neutrinos at HERA

For theep collider at HERA, we study processes with neutrinos in the final state. Furthermore, we discuss the production ofW andZ bosons. Because of the very small lifetimes of theW andZ, we consider the production of their leptonic decay products rather than the bosons themselves. All the results are based on exact calculations of the matrix element at the tree level. Total cross sections and various kinematical distributions are presented.     

New fir laser lines and frequency measurements from optically pumped13CD3OH3

We report the discovery of 57 new fir laser lines from¹³CD₃OH molecule optically pumped by a waveguide CO₂ laser of 300 MHz tunability. For all lines, precise frequency offset measurements between the CO₂ line center and the center of the absorbing¹³CD₃OH line were performed using the transferred Lamb-Dip technique. We have also measured directly the frequency of seven FIR laser lines by heterodyning with already known laser lines. We present a complete list of all known laser lines (134) and frequency measurements (24) for this molecule.Work supported by CNPq, FAPESP, FAEP-Brasil, and CNR-Italia     

CO-laser photoacoustic detection of phosgene (COCl2)

Detection of COCl₂, a highly toxic gas in chemical industry, using laser photoacoustic spectroscopy is presented. The spectrophone system used has a broad band LN₂ cooled CW CO laser as a source of radiation, which operates from 4.8–8.4 um in the mid-infrared. Using an extracavity open longitudinal resonant cell, absorption signals to about 30 CO laser lines in the 5.45 um region could be observed. detection sensitivity has been estimated to be ppb order.This work has been supported by the NSFC     

Short-range order in miscible polymer blends: A monte carlo study

Local ordering in miscible binary polymer blends with strong attractive interactions between the two types of chains was investigated by computer simulation of allowable conformations on an incompressible cubic lattice. A tendency toward maximum ordering (in which chains pack in alternate parallel rows) is shown by the calculation of pair correlations and in “snapshots” of the mixtures. A specific directional interaction is not necessarily required for ordering. A comparison of these results with those recently obtained using mean-field theory is presented. The heat capacity of mixing was also calculated and found to be positive, with a value close to that reported experimentally.     

Intersegmental interaction and critical concentrations in PET–HFIP solutions

Spectroscopic determinations of the concentrations associated with the onset of intermolecular interaction in solutions of poly(ethylene terephthalate) (PET) are described. The intersegment forces perturb the electronic spectra and induce ground-state aggregation. These phenomena become observable at different chain densities, reflecting the influence of concentration on the coil dimensions, as well as the dynamical nature of the interactions. An estimate of the equilibrium constant for PET dimer formation in hexafluoroisopropanol is reported.